Prime = Iconic, Megs = ?

i was thinking the other day regarding movie and general toy designs..

prime is seen as something of an icon in TF - almost every toy/design he has had have been almost identical and had all the same traits (even the proto form toy has the chest 'windows' for example). there is general up roar when he gets changed too much or if things are altered too much (mouth peice/no piece?).

however with megs it seems different. no one seems to mind as much when his designs are altered for each series etc.
i understand alot of this has to do with the whole "no gun alt mode" thing but he rarely shares his G1 traits as much as prime does (i would say closest it came was with energon megs and even then it was a nod at galvatron), and has gone from tank to plane to car in past few series. he hasnt even had his famous arm cannon half the time.

so whats peoples thoughts on this?

is it because prime is just prime or is it because g1 megs looked pretty crappy to start off with.

Personally, I do mind his design changing so drastically. It's not that I mind the Decepticons having different leaders, but if you are going to call him Megatron then he should have some common traits with the original. At the very LEAST I would say he needs an arm cannon of some kind. I did like the design for Energon megs though, and Classics Megs does get my approval.

I do agree that Prime is so iconic that changing him THAT much would cause a stir, and that if they were to change him so much just make it a different character. I do think changing Megatron does cause some commotion though, and I have heard lots of complaints for most molds from recent lines.

Worst Megatron IMO looks wise has to be Cybertron Megatron. It might be a good toy but Megatron being a car and having no real traits of Megatron just feels wrong.

One last thing though, if you wanted to explain it storywise, Megs would probably be upgrading himself and changing himself all the time to be more powerfull. Prime wouldn't really have that ambition.

My best guess is that since they couldn't keep him a gun in the same way they mostly kept Prime a semi or truck of some sort, Meg's ended up being open for interpretation, hence all the ******ed incarnations of the character following G1.

For a variety of reasons, I never liked his alt mode being a gun to begin with. But I do wish they would have taken the tank template from G2 and used that as the core alt mode model for future Meg's, simply so him & Prime could have maintained their likeness throughout the years no matter how many updates they were given. Because you're right, you usually know a Prime figure when you see it. Megatron, on the other hand, not at all.

I suspect part of the reason that Megatron gets a radical facelift for every series is because when you think about it, G1 Megatron is actually a pretty generic design.

He's a robot with a boxy body, boxy head, metallic-toned armour and a humanoid face. He has a tube on his back, which most people don't even think about, but compared to many original TF designs, he really doesn't have a lot of strong distinguishing features in his general form. Prime has his "pecs" and grill, and his blue head, faceplate, visor and "ears"... for the most part, these features have returned through many Prime designs. Starscream has his cockpit chest, air-intakes on his shoulders, and wings. Even Soundwave has his cassette hatch and familiar face design.

I'm sure that subsequent designers wanted to give Megatron something distinctive, but it's hard to establish a new tradition and have it stick. G1 is still the most iconic TF property, that has largely defined the look of TFs ever since... so no Megatron since then has really made such a big impact that his look has endured into other series.

Though it's also interesting that the arm-mounted fusion cannon, which is probably the most distinctive feature of G1 Megatron, hasn't really been used much in subsequent designs... I don't have an explanation for that.

While Megatron has body changes I think he's basically the same personality. While Prime basically stays familiar, there has been personality changes. G1 Prime never would have hit a fellow Autobot for asking a question even concerning his judgement. Energon Prme didn't seem to have an issue with the violence. I also can't see G1 Prime tossing away the Matrix before entereing into battle, no matter how mad he might have gotten. Speaking of this, I really can't remember Optiumus Prime the First loosing his cool at all, even n his final battle with Megatron in the 86 Movie. He didn't even carry a grudge against Galvatron in TROOP. (or even Hot Rod) That's class! No Prime since has exhibited that kind of self-control. Well, maybe RID Prime came close.

While Megatron has body changes I think he's basically the same personality. While Prime basically stays familiar, there has been personality changes. G1 Prime never would have hit a fellow Autobot for asking a question even concerning his judgement. Energon Prme didn't seem to have an issue with the violence. I also can't see G1 Prime tossing away the Matrix before entereing into battle, no matter how mad he might have gotten. Speaking of this, I really can't remember Optiumus Prime the First loosing his cool at all, even n his final battle with Megatron in the 86 Movie. He didn't even carry a grudge against Galvatron in TROOP. (or even Hot Rod) That's class! No Prime since has exhibited that kind of self-control. Well, maybe RID Prime came close.

Bottom line, let Megs change. We all know who he really is. Yesss.

Click to expand...

Personality and/or character development mean exactly squat when looking at a toy on the shelf and not being able to recognize it because you didn't watch the cartoon it came from. I think that's the point you're missing here - the original poster of this thread is talking about the bare basic design of Megatron and how it's never stayed similar or recognizable to G1, whereas Prime has always looked like Prime and maintained his G1 likeness (save for the Beast lines, of course).

My best guess is that since they couldn't keep him a gun in the same way they mostly kept Prime a semi or truck of some sort, Meg's ended up being open for interpretation, hence all the...incarnations of the character following G1

It's because g1 megs was a gun. Then he was a tank. Then he was a renamed predacon leader with a billion alt modes. I think RiD "Megatron" is what ruined any chance of having a consistant megatron look. Really Beast Wars Megatron was more G1 megs looking than most incarnations after him. At least BW megs had an arm canon (two really I think) and a bucket like head and he was even being passed off as THE MEgatron.

say you were shown the cybertron megatron mold for the first time, would you immediately associate it as being megatron?
what about the new show "heroes", it could be the same for this.

i always found it odd that not even his head scult was kept.

its a shame about megatron but maybe that will change after the movie - is it possible they could influence how future megatrons are designed - maybe not exactly the same but have some similar features. time will tell i suspect.

i guess one part of it could be fans never taking a firm liking to any particular alt mode. i agree he dosnt have to be a gun but the tank version neevr sat well with me. its ok but but not great.

Well....I think the reason that this happens, is because if they changed Optimus into a Car or Plane, that wouldn't make sense. People would freak. Optimus is a Truck. With Megtron, he's just the comedic villan. Comedic villans are replacable. I mean, no one complains that "OMG MEGATRON KILLED PRIME", rather that Hot Rod did. And noone put up a big stink when he became Galvatron. It's sad, but I don't think people carew about Megs anymore

I would blame G2 and RiD as key points for fostering the trend of "Optimus=truck, Megatron=whatever". G2 marked the start the whole thing of gun laws messing with the reissue of the original toy, so Tank Megs was created, not to mention a wide variety of forms for both Op and Megs, some of which were repaints that looked little to nothing like the G1 baseline. RiD brought back 'traditional' vehicle TFs after the beast years, but Hasbro decided by this point that every line needs Op and Megs, so they shoehorn the names Optimus Prime and Megatron into the Car Robots roles. It's been said that the designs for Armada Megatron (which continued on through Cybertron) took cues from RiD Megs, which helps to explain why the typical 'buckethead' Megs from G1, g2, and to a lesser extent BW, fell by the wayside until Classics.

We'll just have to see where Megatron head designs go in future years, after Classics and the movie have been thrown into the design mix.

Can I answer a question with a question? Would prime still be an icon if he didn't die in the movie? Maybe the fallout of that back in the day caused Hasbro to to keep his likeness in some form because of his deaths impact. Maybe a way to make it up to everyone too?

I've always thought of Megatron as a genaric bad guy. Both Soundwave and Starscream are iconic, yet not to the same level as Optimus. I've yet to see any Decepticon character as a good match for Prime.